The materials acquired during our fieldwork will be kept in the Folklore Archive of
the Institute of World Literature (Russian Academy of Sciences). They will be
transcribed, systematized, catalogued and computerized. Information about them
will be available for researchers of folk culture such as folklorists,
ethnographers, ethnomusicologists, dialectologists, folk art critics,
sociologists, ethnopsychologists and historians.

The documentary “The
Day of the Holy Spirit” is devoted to the unique
folklore ritual rooted in pagan times, which is preserved in a small
Russian village, until even today. In this rite, both a deep grief and
an uncontrolled joy are interwoven. What is forbidden on all other days
is allowed only on this day, because this day is the Day
of the Holy Spirit. The main performers of the rite are
women. Their energy and enthusiasm are reflected in the ritual behavior
and unique erotic songs. The author of the documentary tried to avoid
usual commentary of the film content. This way he overcame some of the
difficulties associated with the genre of an ethnographical film.
The
Day of the Holy Spirit"-
documentary film, (2001) Betacam SP / VHS - 26 min. PAL / NTSC system.

Snopot-
documentary film, (1998) Betacam SP / VHS - 20 min. PAL / NTSC system.
(With English subtitles).A documentary film directed by Sergey Minyonok (20 min.). This film is
about a local holiday which is celebrated in the village of Snopot (Brianskaya
province, Rognedinskii district), in the south-western part of Russia.
Every year on July 21 villagers gather together and hold services near
three places: a) the holy well, b) the site where the church formerly
stood, and c) the Desna-river. Everyone carries icons covered with
embroidered ritual towels. From the holy well to the river people move
very slowly. One by one everybody passes under the icons and under the
towels for good health. The whole ceremony is filled with various pagan
relics. People believe that if you take the water from any place you
like it will be holy water. According to local belief it is very
important to swim in the river during this day. Villagers tell us that
this will cleanse their sins which they accumulated during the whole
year.

At present we note with sorrow the lack of
knowledge of folklore culture among many our contemporaries. All kinds of
stylization, numerous tasteless amateur troupes' activities arouse the stable
irritation which is spread automatically on the idea of folklore. The
unpopularity of folklore can be explained also by the lack of deep, interesting
broadcasts and telecasts in Russian Radio and TV.

Collection of CD-disks with Russian folklore songs
recorded in different districts. For orders, please, contact vsem@cityline.ru

We make disks on the basis of field audio records, and publish
richly illustrated folklore collections on the basis of field photographs, notes
and records.

We publish our results in the professional folklore and
ethnographic journals including: “Etnograficheskii vestnik” (The
Ethnographical News), “Zhivaia starina” (The Living Old-Times); in
the periodical professional edition “Russkii folklor” (The Russian
Folklore); in popular scientific journals: “Rodina”, (The
Motherland), “Narodnoie tvorchestvo” (The People's Art).

The financial support for our project will allow us to continue
work in our academic sphere, to buy necessary equipment and to plan further
investigations. At the same time, we understood how strongly we are pressed by
time. All our excellent folk singers and narrators are 60, 70 and 80-years old.